30 replies to this topic

[maccers]

I have a halfords advanced 306 diesel battery, that I have had for around 4 years, never a problem. I dont use the car much so I charge every now and then with a Ring auto charger.

 

I took the battery out the car few weeks back to jump a mates car, put the battery in and forgot about it. Went to charge the battery today and it was dead, the charger did not recognise it...! Called Ring and they said to hook up another known good battery and let that semi charge the dead one, to about 5 volts then the Ring one would pickup a charge and carry on.

 

This is I did with my bike battery, and as the guy said, the charger began to charge. Tested the failed battery at this point and it was 6.5 volts.

 

The battery is now fully charged after a whole at at 2amps charging. Has the battery been permenatly damaged though?

[ChopperHarris]

how many volts now?

[maccers]

12.8

[ChopperHarris]

Sounds like its going to be ok....have to suck it and see or get Halfrauds or similar to test it.

Seems you have a multimeter....this may help

 

[maccers]

Yep, cheers, I will get it going and take for a run, but maybe the battery is due for replacement anyway after 4 years.

[Tamworthbay]

Trust me it's dead, traditional lead acid batteries really don't like being fully discharged even for a short time. I build and race electric cars and when I started out the formula we race in used Yuasa car batteries. We did a lot of testing and a single discharge below 10.5v takes 20% of capacity out of a good battery, below 6v they are as good as dead. It may charge up and even read a good 13+v (but more likely it will limp over 12v) but the problem comes when you put a load on them such as starting your car. After four years it's towards the end of its like anyway so it isn't a killer getting another.

[KernowCooper]

As Tamworthbay said above once its been left to dischange down to read 0v and wont take a charge, it will never give 100% again, sulphation is a killer of lead acid batteries, even if it starts its reserve capacity is severely effected

[A-Cell]

Yep it's dead. It will be sulphated and will not perform under starter cranking loads. 4 years is not bad for a battery. Best I had one 7 years on a car used daily. Think that was an exception!

[Lincsminbin]

I'm a fan of the 'ain't broke don't fix it' school of thought. I'd put it back in the car and start it, if it starts all well and good if it doesn't, get a new one

You may come unstuck once the weather tuns cold, but worth a go?

[maccers]

Yep, cheers for the above advice, car started eventually but was more lack of oil pressure probably as i'd not used it for ages, but kept cranking all ok. Took for a long drive but will invest in a new one so it does not let me down.

[Tamworthbay]

I'm a fan of the 'ain't broke don't fix it' school of thought. I'd put it back in the car and start it, if it starts all well and good if it doesn't, get a new one
You may come unstuck once the weather tuns cold, but worth a go?

like brake pads on the wear bar? Bald tyres? Fraying Seatbelts? Surface rust and no paint on your sills?

If you have something that you know will cause a breakdown then it's stupid not to sort it while you have the chance in my opinion.

[Lincsminbin]

 

I'm a fan of the 'ain't broke don't fix it' school of thought. I'd put it back in the car and start it, if it starts all well and good if it doesn't, get a new one
You may come unstuck once the weather tuns cold, but worth a go?

like brake pads on the wear bar? Bald tyres? Fraying Seatbelts? Surface rust and no paint on your sills?

If you have something that you know will cause a breakdown then it's stupid not to sort it while you have the chance in my opinion.

 

 

I think you are deliberately misunderstanding me and being somewhat unfair. At no point am I suggesting or even implying that maccers should do something dangerous, pretty much the worse possible outcome of a flat battery is your car won’t start, now I know it could be said that this would be dangerous if you were to stall at a busy junction etc.  But this is an unlikely outcome.

 

If you read my statement correctly, I said if it ‘ain’t broke don’t fix it’  I think this is a widely accepted statement that means if it works leave it alone, not don’t do any preventative maintenance and certainly not ignore worn brake pads, bald tyres etc.. which are clearly  ‘broken’ and should be repaired!

 

You say it is stupid not to replace something that you know will cause a breakdown, which is correct provided you 'know' it will, it is also unwise to spend money and resources replacing something that is perfectly fine.

[KernowCooper]

I think Tamworthbay was just trying to say from experience and mine if the batteries left to go dead flat its just a matter of time and circumstance before its going to let you down and it will, like a cold morning or heat soak in traffic, and we have been there and done that.

 

I'm a qualified mechanic and auto electrician so I dont follow the term "If it ain't broke don't fix it" statement, I spend hours looking at mine checking battery voltage, alternator output, coils voltage and volt drop to pick up the first signs of trouble, and for Tamworthbay and me the dead flat battery is one of those signs.

[jaydee]

Usually

Aint broke dont fix it = breakdown and more expensive repair

Proper maintanance is the key if you like a reliable thrusty car

[Lincsminbin]

I agree proper maintenance is the key if you like a reliable trusty car. I am not in any way advocating not carrying out proper maintenance, and 'ain't broke don't fix it' (which I originally meant as a bit of a light hearted comment) doesn't imply this.

 

It simply means don't waste your time and money on something (and here's the key bit) that 'isn't broken'. Now I have no idea if maccas battery is 'broken' or not, without testing it, we are all just making educated guesses, but a pretty good way of getting a general idea is to use the thing and see if it does what you want i.e. start the car, which in this case it seems to do fine.  A new battery is also a perfectly good solution, this was just my thoughts and I don't think that this is a poor aproach to maintainence.

 

If I replaced batteries everytime I'd completely flattened them I'd have shares in a motorcycle battery company by now